Matigara, West Bengal, Apr 8 : Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said that with the coming of the Mamata Banerjee government, West Bengal has moved from one dictatorship to another.
"It is the mistake of the people that the state has moved from one dictatorship ("tanashahi") by the Left Front to another dictatorship by the Trinamool Congress," Ramesh told Congress party workers here in Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district.
Criticising the West Bengal government for the stalemate over the Panchayat elections, he alleged that the Trinamool was scared of the outcome of the polls and therefore does not want the elections to take place.
"They are scared of the opposition as well as the fractions within the party. So they don't want elections," he said.
The rural development minister warned that if the panchayat polls are not held then the state will stop receiving funds under the MNREGA scheme.
"If there is no elections there will be no money," Ramesh said while raising questions over the usage of Rs 4,000 crore given by the Centre to the state under the MNREGA scheme in 2012-13.
"People need to ask this to the government," he said.
